When the cardinals voted to elect Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the 265th successor of St. Peter on the evening of March 13, 2013, few of them imagined what kind of pope he would be.

Just halfway through his period of convalescence, Pope Francis not only appeared on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Easter Sunday to give the Urbi et Orbi blessing—to the city of Rome (“urbi”) and to the world (“orbi”)—but he also drove among the crowd in his jeep.

Against the backdrop of deep differences with the Trump administration over migration and foreign aid as well as concerns for Ukraine and for Gaza, the Vatican secretary of state welcomed U.S. Vice President JD Vance to the Vatican.

Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, attended the liturgy with his wife, Usha, a practicing Hindu, and his three children after meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni earlier in the day.

As a Black person who sometimes ministers in predominantly white parishes, I can appreciate how easy it is to feel out of place. It makes all the difference to hear words of welcome.

The further we get from the needs and the lives of the poor, the easier it is to forget that we have duties to them at all.

We need a healthier public square in which people of all backgrounds can work together.

Asked how he was living this Easter period, given his condition and convalescence, Pope Francis replied, “As best I can!”

It was Drew Christiansen, S.J., even more than Thoreau or Aquinas, whom I was surprised to encounter amid the German landscapes on the Upper East Side.

Pope Francis, 88, will visit Rome’s Regina Coeli prison “in a private way” on Holy Thursday afternoon if his health condition allows it.